Scotland’s household recycling rate falls to 42.8%

Scotland’s household recycling rate fell to 42.8% in 2025, down from 44.3% in 2024. Scottish households produced 2.31 million tonnes of waste during the year, according to figures from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The amount of household waste sent to landfill decreased by 10.3% in 2025. Across all waste types, landfill received 1.58 million tonnes in Scotland, a 12.7% reduction compared with 2024.

At the same time, household-waste incineration rose by 5.7%, an increase of 49,000 tonnes. The figures show that reducing landfill use did not correspond with a higher household recycling rate during the year.

SEPA’s figures also indicate that roughly 52% of residual household waste could still be recycled. More than half of the material discarded through household kerbside collections could potentially enter recycling systems that already exist.

Scotland’s previous goal was to recycle 70% of waste from all sources by 2025. That target covered a wider category than the household recycling measure. In 2023, household recycling rates across Scottish local authorities ranged from 20.7% to 58.2%, while the national household rate was 43.5%.

The latest figures therefore place household recycling below both the 2023 and 2024 rates listed in the official data, even as landfill volumes continued to fall.